Skip to main content

Nurturing Creativity and Growth Through Music

Image of the Uunrecord Divas singing group

“If you cannot teach me to fly, teach me to sing.” 

~J.M. Barrie

I love to sing! I have been singing since I can ever remember with my earliest memories walking around my house, yard, and neighborhood singing. I find music to be deeply self-nurturing and my husband and I regularly attend live music. Over the last month we have seen the Bare Naked Ladies, Hootie and the Blowfish, and tonight are going to see the Strutts. Music is part of our self-nurturing practice and we always have music playing in our house.

So you can imagine how excited I was seven years ago to begin singing with the UUnrecorded Diva, my women’s singing group. From the start of this adventure,   I embraced the many opportunities to stretch and grow, but in truth I had no idea how transformative this experience of stretching and growing would be! The women I sing with are very accomplished and talented singers, some reading music since they were able to read words. Although I have been singing since I was young, I was not trained in reading music beyond music class in elementary school.

My learning curve around reading music over the years has been steep, and has provided me an opportunity to reflect regularly on how I respond to new challenges and acknowledge how much I have grown. At our weekly rehearsals, I have the learned to practice being kind and compassionate to myself and notice when I judge and criticize myself, hold myself to incredibly high standards, and feel less than confident at first when trying something new.

Through this process, I have become more aware of the limiting beliefs and messages I give myself that no longer serve me. Singing each week for seven years has helped me create more positive and loving messages toward myself and provided evidence of my growth. 

This experience of choosing to be vulnerable weekly has stretched me in really amazing ways and I have felt both great joy and empowerment and insecure and doubtful all at the same time. Ah to be human!

Over the last seven years, I have found new discoverable strengths previously unknown to me like my ability to harmonize, pick up music by ear, confidently read music, and regularly experience great joy and fulfillment after working hard on a song and singing it well.

Being part of this supportive group of Divas (bet you never thought you would read a phrase like that) has allowed me to develop parts of myself previously unexplored and nurture my creativity and growth in dynamic and joyful ways. I am so incredibly grateful for my relationships with these amazing women. Our connection with each other grounds and nurtures us deeply and is as important as the music we sing together. We are dear friends who continue to stretch and grow together and have learned how to share leadership as we have chosen not to have a director. 

We continue to choose to stretch and grow and a few months ago at the women’s retreat where I was the keynote speaker, we led a workshop sharing our process of learning a song, taught a song, and then preformed a concert. It was pure joy to share what we love so much with others and have the opportunity to sing so many songs at one time!

Whether you sing, play an instrument or enjoy listening, music is an amazing tool for self-nurturing. Just put on a song you love and see how it transforms your mood, connects you to your body and this present moment, and elevates your energy! 

I invite you to nurture your creativity and growth through music as you nurture peace in the world from the inside out!

Kelley Grimes

Sending you so much peace, love and gratitude,

Kelley Grimes, M.S.W.
Counselor, Author & Speaker

Sign up to receive daily reminders with our mobile app!

Join the discussion 18 Comments

  • Thanks for sharing your journey with us Kelley, I felt how uplifting your experience has been for you, with your very first sentence; I love to sing! Music is therapeutic on many levels. My husband and I enjoy at least one concert a year now, I look forward to hearing the music and being outdoors.

  • Anne Wade says:

    Music is a language of the soul. I love how you’ve invited it to be your guide in exploring your own resistance, vulnerability, and creativity. Your ladies singing group sounds marvelous in every way!

  • Laura Joseph says:

    Love this story and how uplifting it is. We all got to step outside our comfort zones to grow. For you it was reading music. Thank you so much.

  • Music was part of the school curriculum, Kelley, and we learned Indian classical music from a young age. I didn’t quite understand the purpose of it as a child but find it created an interest in music and I often find myself singing along with songs and genuinely feeling happy. Music is food for the soul. Thank you for sharing your journey!

  • Andrea says:

    One of the things I love about our little town is the monthly concerts that take place down by the river. Part of the main street is closed off, people bring chairs, and there is lots of dancing in the street.

    I love to read about the things that charge people up – your workshop experience sounds like a lot of fun.

  • How awesome to hear that you sing Kelley – it’s quite wondrous to have this talent. I won’t even sing in the shower! My husband and I love Bare Naked Ladies and Hootie and the Blowfish – we have seen them both live in small venues over the years. Cheers to you and the Divas!

  • SUZIE CHEEL says:

    Kelley thank you for sharing your journey, so beautiful and I am not a great singer, what you have done is I will start to sing at the beach again and play more music and songs as I know so good for the spirit and raising the vibes ????

  • Heather says:

    Music is a wonderful expression. It has been hugely important to me my whole life and has gotten me through some of the darkest times. It has lead me through my life. I love the stories music tells and how it heals. I’ve been to so many concerts since I was a teenager. I really enjoy live music. I don’t go a day without listening to music for a least a little while. It is something that is so universal.

Leave a Reply